Holyrood Serves Up Today’s Best Bits

Here is today’s serving of links from the web, please feel free to tell us what you think and we would love to hear your suggestions so we can share them with everyone else. Visit our facebook and twitter pages to leave your message.

MASTERCHEF THE MASTER OF REALITY TV SUCCESS? (Laura)

The winner of this year’s Master Chef will be announced this evening with previous unknown chefs Tom Whittaker, Sara Danesin and Tim Anderson battling it out one final time for the ultimate reality TV cooking award. Whilst past winners might not have gone on to become household names like Cheryl Cole and Leona Lewis, an article in the Daily Mail shows that actually the cookery show, produces the most amount of successful winners. Looking back, previous contestants have been amazingly successful from taking part in TV shows, writing cookery books, opening up restaurants and working with some of the world’s greatest chefs – there’s definitely not a Joe McElderry or Leon Jackson in sight.

HAS THE FLASH MOB FLASHED ITS LAST? (Andrea)

Flash mobs are everywhere these days, the most successful being those used in the T Mobile adverts where commuters in a train station are stunned by a group of 400 people spontaneously breaking out into an eclectic pop music mix dance. Yet this one which took place at an Apple store in America, didn’t seem to have the effect the organisers hoped with shoppers looking away in embarrassment or just ignoring the spectacle all together. Flash mobs are anarchic displays of creativity designed to stun and awe members of the public, but as this one shows their regularity means they are not as shocking or anarchic as they once where – suggested the flas mob has flashed its last. Although whilst passersby didn’t seem to enjoy it, the video has had over 50,000 view on YouTube and has even been tweeted by Ashton Kutcher.

CALM DOWN DEAR, IT’S JUST POLITICS (Adrian)

It was bad enough when boorish film-maker Michael Winner turned the words “calm down dear…” into a TV catchphrase but now David Cameron has caused a storm by using the phrase in a parliamentary debate. The PM – proving he’s at the cutting edge of pop culture by using a catchphrase that’s at least 7 years old – aimed the remark at Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle during a row about NHS reforms. And the words have now been lambasted as a sexist attack by opposition MPs.The government has tried to brush off the row by stressing that it’s a “humorous and popular catchphrase” and, while that may be true, it’s still a remarkably stupid thing for the elected leader of our country to do. I’m surprised he didn’t follow it up by telling Ms Angle to get back in the kitchen and put the kettle on while the chaps discuss the important stuff.

BLACK EYES ALL ROUND AS GYM OFFERS NAKED WORKOUT SESSIONS (Laura)

A gym in Spain has launched a series of naked workout sessions in order to boost member numbers after being hit by the recession. Whilst exercising in the buff may not be to everyone’s taste – just think of the sweat marks on the exercise bikes – it is how athletes in Greece traditionally worked out and some people prefer the ‘free’ feeling you get from wearing no clothes. It has yet to take off but with other Spanish gyms offering popular naked swimming sessions, you never know it could be coming to a gym near you soon.

THINKING PINK FOR GIRLS IS INSTINCT (Pamela)

According to a group of scientists, girls really do prefer pink, even if they don’t want to. The team discovered that the obsession with the colour pink stems from our early female ancestors, whose brains were trained to search for colourful ripe fruits and berries. Similarly, the findings proved that men are drawn to blues and greens as these colours suggest clear skies and good weather for hunting in. If this is the case, how do they explain men in pink shirts?